


My Teacher: The Dragon

by PhoenixHolmes



Series: The London Dragon [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: AU, Dragon!Sherlock - Freeform, Human!John, M/M, Smauglock AU, Teacher!Sherlock, smaug!lock, student!John
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-09 12:44:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4349279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixHolmes/pseuds/PhoenixHolmes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Watson is in his last year of school and has a new form tutor, the mysterious science teacher Sherlock Holmes.</p><p>Shortly after the arrival of the new teacher, a huge dragon is seen flying around London.</p><p>John is about to discover that his new teacher isn't quite as he seems...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The door flew open, and a tall young man with dark curly hair stood there. His presence immediately caused the class to fall silent and stare at him as he walked slowly into the room over to the front desk before turning and surveying the class, who were stood around or sat on the desks. His grey eyes skimmed over them again before he spoke in a quiet voice.

“Good morning. I am your new form tutor, Mr Holmes. I would appreciate it if you would all sit behind the desks rather than on top of them”

Everyone quickly scrambled to their seats, and within a minute, everyone was sat staring at their new teacher. Sherlock Holmes scanned them all again briefly before he took his own seat at his desk and opened the register. 

“Answer your names” he said, and started rattling his way through the register. He would call the name, glance up, make a mental note of who had spoken and then continue. Some of the names stood out to him more than the others. Sebastian Moran seated next to the boy James Moriarty who had an Irish accent, Molly Hooper the little quiet girl near the front, and John Watson, the small boy hiding near the back. He finished the register, scanned them once again and sighed.

“As your new form tutor, I have the understanding that I must have a twenty minute mentoring session with each of you, in order to get to know you better... and guide you through your final year of school. This will start tomorrow, with the first three on the register, which is Jacob, Aimee and Liam. Also, if anyone has any questions or queries they wish for me to answer, I can be found in here at both break times and lunchtimes, although I am on duty Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes. I will most likely have some experiments set up along the sides, and it is my number one rule that you do not touch them under any circumstances. Now go to your lessons. See you later” Sherlock said, waving them away, and everyone quickly scrambled to their feet and left. Sherlock rubbed his head and sighed. He had an entire day before he could stretch his wings again....

That evening, a loud roar and a scream sent John Watson to his window. He pulled the curtains aside to see an enormous dragon swooping across the sky. He stared in amazement, and the dragon blasted a column of flame into the sky. There had been rumours that a dragon had been seen in London before, around forty years ago. John’s parents still talked about it occasionally. He knew from the pictures that it was exactly the same dragon. He wondered who else from school had seen it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, the entire tutor group were talking excitedly about the dragon, all except John, who was listening to the conversation from his place at the back of the room. Sherlock walked in, a couple of minutes late, and barked at them to sit down. The class quickly sat down, despite the fact that he looked absolutely exhausted and his voice lacked some of the authoritative quality it had held the day before. Only John seemed to notice the dark shadows under the teacher’s eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That lunchtime, John stood to the side by himself, as was his custom on Tuesdays when his friend Mike Stamford would have football practise. John hated football. It always seemed pointless to him, but he would still attend matches and cheer Mike on. John sighed inwardly as he leant against the wall, and did not notice the tall figure standing beside him. 

“Afternoon, John” Sherlock said quietly, his hands in his coat pockets, his coat collar turned up against the cold. John jumped, and turned to look at his teacher.

“Um, hi Sir” he mumbled.

“You alright, John?”

“Sure, yeah, I’m fine” John replied.

“If you ever want a chat, if you’re feeling down or upset, come find me, okay?”

“Um... okay”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John first notices that something is different about his teacher....

“John Watson! Come here!” Sherlock barked a week later, and John edged forward nervously. Sherlock still looked tired, although not as much he had previously. Maybe he had been awake because of the dragon, which now appeared every night. As John moved towards the front of the room, Sebastian Moran stuck his foot out and John almost tripped, causing half the class to laugh. 

“Quiet! Or I’ll stick you all in detention” Sherlock snapped, and the class fell silent as he stood, gesturing for John to follow him out into the corridor. 

“Don’t even think about making any noise I will easily hear you” he added as the door shut, leaving himself and John in the corridor. Sherlock turned to survey the small year eleven boy; his arms folded, and sighed. “Are you sure you’re alright, John? You’re very quiet in tutor sessions and in science lessons” he asked quietly, and John shrugged slightly.

“I... I’m fine, Sir. It’s just...” he trailed off.

“It’s just what?” Sherlock prompted.

“Nothing. It’s nothing, really, Sir, I’m fine” John said, and Sherlock sighed. 

“I don’t believe that. Your mentoring session will be at 12:50, just before lunch, okay?”

“But... but... I thought I wasn’t meant to have mentoring for a few weeks...” he trailed off, and Sherlock chuckled quietly.

“Maybe you were. But I can rearrange things. It will give us a chance to have a proper chat, yes?”

“I suppose so, Sir” John mumbled, blushing and staring at his shoes.

“Go on, go to lessons. I’ll see you later” Sherlock said, heading back inside as the bell rang and the others filed out. 

 

At 12:55, John still hadn’t arrived, so Sherlock sighed, swinging his long legs down from off the desk and standing up. He had already looked up John’s timetable, and he strode to the history block and tapped on the door, opening it enough to poke his head inside. 

“Sorry, Mr Williams, but John needs to come to his mentoring session now” he said, and John stood, picked up his bag and trailed after his tutor sadly. John was silent the whole way to the mentoring room, and took his seat, his gaze fixed on his shoes as Sherlock slid back into his own seat, his gaze fixed on the boy before him. 

“John?” he asked quietly. John sniffed and dragged his sleeve quickly across his eyes, blotting at what Sherlock assumed were tears. 

“John, look at me” he said, slightly louder. The command left John with no choice, and he raised his tear streaked face to look at his teacher. Sherlock flinched slightly. He hadn’t meant to use his ‘command’ voice on John.

“What?” John mumbled, and Sherlock sighed.

“I was going to ask why you were crying. Has something happened?” he asked, and John flinched.

“Just being silly, really. It was Sebastian, in history” he muttered.

“What did Sebastian say?”

“... He told me I was gay”

“And are you?”

“What? No! Of course not! It was more who he said I was in love with” John spluttered, and Sherlock smirked a little, his curiosity about this boy increasing with every minute. 

“Who?” Sherlock asked, before realising he probably shouldn’t have asked that.

“... He said I was in love with you, Sir” John mumbled, turning bright red and wishing the floor would open up and swallow him so as to avoid looking at his teacher, who had frozen slightly with surprise.

“Well, John. I am flattered, but unfortunately such a relationship would be impossible. Also, seen as neither of us are in fact gay, it really wouldn’t work at all. But let me say this, even if you were, John, it wouldn’t matter. It doesn’t matter, really, does it? You’re different, I can see that much. But you don’t need to be afraid of being different” Sherlock paused, and his eyes flickered for a fraction of a second, turning from grey to a deep fiery scarlet with slit pupils. John stared; sure that he had imagined it. Sherlock noticed him staring, and narrowed his eyes slightly, which flickered again. John blinked. 

“Um... thanks, Sir” he mumbled, and Sherlock sighed.

“Go on, off you go to lunch. You know where to find me if you need to talk” he said, waving his hand to dismiss the boy, who scrambled to his feet. 

“Bye, Sir” he muttered as he left. Sherlock leaned back in his chair, and ran his fingers through his hair. He was sure that his eyes had changed, potentially giving away his secret to John. Hopefully, John hadn’t noticed, but Sherlock couldn’t shake the feeling that John had.

 

“The dragon, seen flying over London, is identical to the one seen forty five years ago. The dragon has not once set fire to anything, and has never harmed anyone, therefore anyone who harms the London dragon will be fined and sent to prison immediately” the newsreader announced, and John sighed. He found the dragon fascinating, mostly the fact it vanished during the day and only appeared again at night. He wondered where the dragon went during the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos so far :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John receives another clue that Sherlock is hiding a large secret....

“Freak! Watch where you’re going!” Jim Moriarty shouted, throwing a banana skin at John, who had walked too close to Jim’s desk on the way to his own. The banana skin landed on John’s head as the door opened and Sherlock walked in. 

“Good afternoon. I’m covering your English class today. James, I suggest you pick up the banana skin, put it in the bin and apologize to John now” he said, and James sighed, making a show of putting the skin into the bin. He then turned to John, and smirked. “Sorry, gay boy”

“James, I will not tolerate that sort of language in my classroom” Sherlock warned.

“This isn’t your classroom, sir” Jim sneered. Sherlock stood, and moved so that he was stood towering over Jim, who gulped. Despite being able to be sarcastic and rude to the teacher, there was something about him that made people feel uneasy when in close proximity. 

“I am aware that I do not normally teach your English class. However, today I am, and I expect you to follow the same rules as if I were teaching you science. So sit down, be quiet, and open your text books to page three hundred and ninety four” he paused whilst the class gaped at him, un-moving. “I said turn to page three hundred and ninety four. I won’t ask again”

Everyone scrambled with their text books, and John met Sherlock’s gaze. “Thanks” he mouthed, and the teacher nodded, smiling slightly.

 

After a practical chemistry lesson, Sherlock decided that the class hadn’t done enough work, so he set them a practise exam paper, causing them all to groan. Statistically, only about half of them would even attempt the paper anyway. 

“Paper’s due on Monday! Have a good weekend!” he called out as the bell rang and everyone scrambled from the room. Sherlock turned to his experiments set up behind his desk, and smiled slightly, ready for some time alone. He patted his pockets, humming slightly as he looked for some matches. He turned out his pockets, and groaned. He’d run out of matches, and now he had no way of lighting the Bunsen. He glanced around, checking the room was empty, and switched on the gas. He opened his mouth and breathed a small column of flames over the opening, setting the Bunsen alight. He smirked, proud of himself, when he heard the quietest of rustling noises by the door. He whipped around and saw John Watson stood there, his mouth agape, his chemistry book on the floor. He had seen. Of course he had.

“John...” Sherlock started towards the boy, who hurriedly bent down and scooped up his book.

“I’m sorry, sir, I forgot my book, I’m sorry, I’ll be going now” John mumbled, blushing bright red as he tried to avoid the gaze of his teacher, who had stopped in front of him. 

“John, look at me” the science teacher’s voice closely resembled a growl, and John felt the voice tug at his brain, forcing him to look up. Sherlock’s eyes were burning fiery scarlet, and John gulped, half convinced he was about to be set on fire from the burning gaze. Instead, his teacher sighed.

“You saw what I did, yes?” he asked quietly, and John nodded reluctantly.

“You must not, under any circumstances, tell anyone. I could get into big trouble for this. As far as you’re concerned, you saw me light the Bunsen with a match. Is that understood?” 

John nodded speechlessly again, and Sherlock waved him out of the door.

“Remember what I said, John. Have a good weekend, I’ll see you Monday”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the Harry Potter reference ;)  
> As always, kudos and comments are appreciated greatly :)


	4. Chapter 4

John couldn’t stop thinking about what he had seen. His teacher breathed fire. Okay. Great. The question was why and how he did it that bothered John. And then there were those eyes, more often than not flickering between grey and fiery scarlet. John thought about what it meant, and was jolted from his thoughts by the now familiar dragon roar outside, close to his house. John opened the curtains and looked up, and sure enough the dragon was there, soaring through the air and breathing fire into the sky. The dragon, as if knowing John was watching, wheeled around mid air and looked down, directly at the boy. John felt a small prickle of fear at the sight of the huge teeth and enormous scarlet eyes watching him. It took him a moment to figure out that the dragon’s eyes were identical to his teacher’s eyes, the same burning shade of red. He stared in fascination, and the dragon stared back, hovering mid air, before growling quietly enough to wake half the street and soaring away. John closed his curtains again, a new idea forming in his mind. Maybe, possibly, the reason his teacher’s eyes changed and the reason he breathed fire was because he was the dragon? The idea seemed preposterous though, and John dismissed it quickly. How would someone turn into a dragon anyway? The legends of shape shifters always talked of the person turning into a wolf or something, something scary and yet now wolves seemed so mundane in comparison to the London dragon.

 

On Monday, Sherlock walked in late and tired to find the class throwing things at each other from opposite sides of the room. Jacob picked up a chair and threw it, not noticing that his intended target was in fact his tutor until Sherlock caught the chair easily, put it back down and stormed to the front of the class, snatching up a metre stick and hitting it against the front table. People looked around in surprise, and scrambled quickly to their seats, the room a mess, and at least half of Sherlock’s experiments smashed beyond repair. John, who had moved to sit in a desk at the front, noticed that Sherlock’s eyes weren’t flickering at all. They were burning a solid scarlet, the slit pupils wide, but the others were too far away to notice as Sherlock glared at them.

“You have five minutes until the bell goes. If this room is not tidy by that time, I will bring you back at break. I do not expect to come in and find the room a mess again, is that clear?” he asked in what John decided was a ‘dangerous quiet’ tone of voice. Everyone nodded, and started tidying slowly in silence whilst Sherlock observed. He then turned to his experiments, knowing that only he could clear away the mess because of some of the acids he had been using. He swept broken beakers and test tubes into the bin, and mopped up the spillages, binning all the experiments. He could feel John’s gaze on his back and sighed quietly, turning around again. The room was much tidier, but Sherlock was still clearly annoyed at what had happened.

“I want everyone back here at the start of lunch today as punishment. Failure to show up means I will come and find you and your punishment will be more severe. Those who show up on time will receive no further punishment” he said quietly, and everyone groaned as the bell rang, muttering curses at the teacher under their breath.

 

At lunchtime, twenty out of twenty eight of the class showed up on time, including John, who avoided Sherlock’s eyes as he took his seat. Sherlock, who had been leaning back against his desk with his hands in his pockets, pushed himself away from the desk and walked to the board. 

“Take out a notebook or a piece of lined A4 paper. I want an entire side of lines before I let you leave here” he said, turning away and writing the words ‘I will not misbehave in tutor sessions’ on the board in his elegant cursive. He turned back to see people getting out paper, and he sighed under his breath.

“I expect you to continue with this in silence whilst I fetch the others who have so far failed to make an appearance” he added, leaving the room. He strode out to the field, his eyes scanning the small friendship groups clustered together around the field. Movement at the side of the field caught his eye, and he looked over to see a group of boys disappearing to hide in the trees and bushes. He strode casually across the field, ignoring people’s stares as he did so. He rarely ventured outside at lunchtimes unless he was on duty, and hardly ever agreed to cover an extra duty shift. As he neared the trees, his sharpened hearing detected the boys whispering.

“Did he see us?”

“Dunno. Probably not. He’s like a blind bat”

“I don’t think he’s blind”

“Shut up, Liam”

“He’s such a freak. Mr Freaky bastard Holmes” Jim’s voice muttered.

“Always thinks he’s perfect”

“Thinks he owns the place”

By this point, Sherlock had grown tired of listening to the conversation, and stepped around the tree he had concealed himself behind.

“Well, whilst I’m flattered that I am a topic of your lunchtime conversations, I suggest that all six of you come with me now” he said, and they all muttered angrily, following the teacher as he strode back to the science department with them trailing reluctantly. Whilst he had been gone, he saw that the two girls who hadn’t been there at the start of lunchtime had now arrived, and had started writing lines, probably by instruction of one of the others. The boys sat down and started writing lines as well, and Sherlock leaned back casually against his desk, watching the class work in silence. His attention kept being drawn to John, though, who was sat at the front, hunched over his piece of paper. He wondered if John had worked it out yet, what the fire breath and most likely the changing eyes meant. He had control over the fire, of course, but not his eyes, which often changed frequently without him realising. He would only notice if someone stared at him in an unusual way. 

When the bell rang, he collected in the lines and dismissed them, but at the last moment called out, “John stay behind”

John, who had almost been out of the door, turned back, letting the door swing shut behind him. His teacher beckoned for him to come closer, and he edged nervously back towards the desk.

“Is something wrong, Sir?” he asked nervously.

“Hmm? No, no, not really. I was going to talk to you about what you saw on Friday. Only I can’t talk about it here. Too many people listening, and I would lose my job. You know Speedy’s cafe? On Baker Street? There’s an alley way around the corner from there. Meet me there at seven, and your questions will be answered”

“...Um, okay Sir. See you later” John hurried away, and Sherlock sighed. He knew Mycroft would hear about this. And once again he would get in trouble for revealing his identity to someone, particularly a young human boy. But Sherlock didn’t care. He was fed up of hiding it. His only concern was that John would have to be face his brother if Mycroft ever found out what Sherlock was planning.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock officially reveals his secret to John and shows him London from the skies

John made it to the alley at five past seven, and spotted a familiar figure hunched over. John edged closer, thinking he was hurt. Sherlock was growing, and John froze as the teacher’s nostrils flared as he picked up John’s scent. 

“You took your time” he gasped as he grew to at least five times his normal size. 

“Sir? Are you alright?” John asked nervously, stepping closer again.

“No! Stay back! I’m fine, this is completely normal, no need to panic...” Sherlock shouted. John stepped back slowly, and stared in astonishment as his teacher’s skin and clothes rippled and vanished, morphing into a set of impregnable scales. John gaped as two gigantic wings burst from his teacher’s back, and the dragon flung his head back, and roared. He then crouched down, resting his head on the ground, which on its own was the same height as John. John stared as the dragon’s mouth opened slightly, revealing a set of razor sharp fangs. 

“Um... Sir? Mr Holmes?” John asked nervously, and the dragon sighed, nodding his huge head slightly.

“Yes John. It’s me. I promised you the answer to my fire breathing and my eyes. Don’t pretend, I know you noticed. I’m grateful you didn’t mention it to anyone”

Mr Holmes’ voice spoke inside John’s head, and he jerked back in shock. 

“Sorry, John. I forgot to warn you”

“Warn me? Warn me that you turned into a dragon or that you could talk in my head?” John spluttered, and the dragon made a deep rumbling sound reminiscent of laughter.

“Both, I suppose. Would you like a ride? I need to stretch my wings, and besides, it’s the best view in London”

“Fly? Like... on your back? How? Where exactly...” John trailed off as the dragon seemed to laugh again.

“Yes, on my back. Climb onto the space between my wing joints” the dragon lay down, allowing John to scramble carefully onto his back. John settled himself, and waited.

“I... maybe I should have said, I’m actually afraid of heights...” John trailed off as the dragon flapped his wings and soared into the sky. 

“I will not drop you, John”

John forgot to scream, he forgot his fear as he looked around in wonder at London, lit up brightly. People were pointing up at the dragon, but John was small enough that nobody noticed him. 

“This is amazing, Sir!” he shouted over the wind, and the dragon snorted flames into the air.

“Yes, indeed. I suppose you’d better get home. Do not tell anyone what you have seen, is that clear?”

“Yes Sir” John mumbled as the dragon landed back in the alley, allowing John to slid to the ground again. The dragon bowed his head again before taking to the skies once again. John hurried home, grinning widely.


	6. Chapter 6

Sherlock was late in again, as usual. He was more often than not late in the mornings, but the class ignored it, accepting that was what happened and that it wasn’t likely to change. However, as he neared the door, he stopped, hand on the door handle. Being a part time dragon meant he had an excellent sense of smell, and he could easily distinguish between different people and even smell their emotions. And right now, he could smell fear on John Watson, even from outside the room. He listened, and heard a crash, and laughter, followed by John’s voice whimpering. 

“Please... no more...”

Sherlock growled quietly, and flung open the door, his gaze sweeping over the scene before him. John was crouched in the corner, his nose bleeding, and the smell of blood sent a shudder through Sherlock, but he pushed down the usually innate animal urge inside him, instead crossing the room and crouching down beside John and handing him a tissue from his pocket.

“Are you alright?” he asked quietly, and John nodded speechlessly, attempting to stem the flow of blood from his nose. Sherlock shuddered slightly again, and reminded himself he was a dragon and not a vampire, and he should be helping the boy rather than thinking about his nice smelling blood. Sherlock the dragon had sworn never to harm a person, and he stuck by that, although at that moment Jim Moriarty decided to test his resolve by hitting the teacher over the back of the head with a chair. Sherlock knew that the chair leg should have impaled straight into his brain, killing him instantly, and he thanked himself he was an immortal dragon and not a weak human. He hadn’t moved at all when the chair had hit him, but now he stood, turning fluidly to face Jim, who was still holding the chair and gaping up at him.

“I suggest you put the chair down, James, and accompany me now to the head of year office. John, you come as well. I want the rest of you in silence doing homework by the time I get back” he snapped, and John stood shakily and followed Sherlock and Jim to the head of year office. Sherlock knocked on the door.

“Come in!” a familiar voice called, and Sherlock opened the door, ushering the boys inside.

“So sorry to bother you, Mrs Newman, but James here decided it was a good idea to assault first John and then myself” Sherlock said, and Mrs Newman raised her eyebrows at James.

“You assaulted a teacher?” she asked, and he shrugged.

“Not really” he muttered, and she looked quizzically at Sherlock, ignoring his blazing red eyes.

“He nearly brained me with a chair. Make of that what you will”

“Right. Well, thank you, Sher... Mr Holmes. I’ll deal with James. John, go with Mr Holmes back to tutor” she said, and John shuffled after Sherlock, who glanced down at him as they walked back to tutor.

“Are you alright, John?” he asked, and John glanced up, not surprised to find that his teacher’s eyes were burning scarlet. He nodded slightly.

“You’re down for mentoring later. Don’t forget this time”

 

John arrived dead on time to find his tutor leaning back in his chair with his feet propped on the desk. Sherlock looked up, and grinned when he saw John, swinging his legs down as John took a seat.

“How are you after the events of this morning, John?”

“Alright, I guess. Nose still hurts a bit. Are you alright, Sir? He did hit you with a chair, after all”

“Oh yes, perfectly fine. Now, on to other matters. I believe you have questions about last night?” Sherlock asked, bracing himself for what was sure to be an avalanche of questions.

“You’re the dragon”

“Yep” Sherlock replied. It hadn’t been a question, and John was really just stating the obvious. 

“How come Jim didn’t hurt you earlier? You didn’t move and surely the chair leg would have...”

“Would have impaled me in the brain, killing me in a second. Well spotted. I can’t die, John. I’m immortal, and I’m indestructible, even in human form”

“Immortal? How old are you then?” John asked, and Sherlock raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, was that rude?”

“No, no. I’ve just never had anyone ask me that before as a starting question. I was born in 1893, and I haven’t aged a day since my twenty fourth birthday”

“That’s pretty cool. How come you turn into a dragon, anyway?”

“I’m not really sure. The most control I have over it is that I don’t change during the day. I’ve transformed into a dragon every night ever since I was about your age, I suppose. Interesting sixteenth birthday present from my parents and brother. ‘Hey you’re sixteen now! Now turn into a fire breathing dragon every night!’ I didn’t know it was a family inheritance, and I happened to be the unluckiest of them all because I turned into the biggest creature out of the entire family. I should have expected it, really. I’d been breathing smoke for at least three months before my transformation. I knew something was different”

“Your parents change as well? And your brother? What do they turn into?” John asked eagerly. Sherlock sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

“My brother still transforms every night, but you’ll never see him. Technically, the fact we both transform every night is classified, but he couldn’t hide a massive dragon. He turns into something smaller than can easily stay inside. If I transformed inside a house it would most likely be ruined. And my parents were killed about fifty years ago”

“I’m sorry. Um... does it hurt?” John asked, and Sherlock laughed quietly.

“Turning into the dragon does. Turning back... not so much. I’ve gotten used to it though. Easier now to distract myself from the pain”

“What about the fire breathing? Can you really breathe fire?”

“You’ve already seen it, John”

“Yeah, but I didn’t understand then” 

“Fine” Sherlock sighed, and breathed a small handful of flames into the air. John stared in awe, and Sherlock laughed.

“Do the school know?” John asked.

“Some of them do. The ones that need to know, really. Mrs Newman knows”

“Really? She didn’t show it”

“She didn’t react to my eyes changing colour, because I could tell from the look on your face at the time my dragon eyes were showing. I told her when I started here”

John opened his mouth to ask something else, but the bell rang, and he didn’t get the chance.

“I’m on duty now, sorry John. I’ll see you later” Sherlock said, standing and pulling on his coat before striding from the room, leaving John stood staring after him, still in shock. 

John wandered outside, instantly spotting the tall figure in his coat wandering around, hands in pockets, collar turned up. John smiled to himself.

“I’ll keep your secret” he murmured under his breath, and was so busy thinking about the secret he didn’t notice Jim and Sebastian until he was pushed to the ground. He blinked, slightly shocked, and Sebastian picked him up by his neck, pressing him against the wall, his hand squeezing tighter and tighter whilst Jim laughed. John had been pressed against the wall for no more than half a second when a hand clapped down on Sebastian’s shoulder, causing the boy to spin around in surprise, dropping John to the floor.

“I do hope I’m interrupting anything... like you trying to kill another pupil. Of course, you wouldn’t dream of it, I’m sure” Sherlock said in a quiet voice, his hand still on Sebastian’s shoulder, who tried to shrug him off and failed. Jim glared at the teacher, who growled under his breath.

“Both of you need to leave John alone, is that understood?” he said in the same quiet voice, and both boys nodded frantically as the dragon’s commanding tone washed over them. Sherlock released Sebastian, and both boys ran quickly. Sherlock watched them go, before crouching down beside John.

“Alright, John?” he asked, helping the boy to his feet. John nodded.

“Sure. Thank you”

“No problem. I said it before, any problems come and see me”


	7. Chapter 7

Sherlock crouched in the alleyway, breathing hard as the transformation pains started in his spine. His nostrils flared as he picked up a familiar scent, and he chuckled under his breath. 

“I might have known you’d be gracing my evening with your presence again, John” he said quietly, and John stepped out of the shadows guiltily.

“How did you know I was there?” he asked, and Sherlock laughed again as he grew, his skin melting away.

“I could smell you” he managed to say before the transformation took a complete hold of him. John stepped back as the dragon bowed his head beside John, who reached out hesitantly and patted the dragon’s snout, causing the dragon to almost purr.

“That’s nice”

“You said you could smell me, but how?” John asked, and the dragon laughed.

“Even when not in dragon form, my senses are somewhat advanced than a human”

“I suppose I didn’t think of that. Can I get a ride?” John asked eagerly, and the dragon laughed again.

“I should start charging for this. Sure, you can have a ride. What happened to your fear of heights?”

“I don’t know. I am trusting you not to drop me though” John replied, scrambling onto the dragon’s back.

“You should trust me, John. I won’t hurt you”

 

“Sir?”

Sherlock’s head snapped up. He had been engrossed with his experiment that he hadn’t noticed the door open. He switched off the blowtorch and set it down, pulling off his goggles as he turned to face John, who was stood awkwardly by the desk. He smiled.

“What can I do for you, John?” he asked politely, and John blushed slightly.

“I... I’m going now, and I wanted to give you this to say thank you” he mumbled, reaching into his the bag at his feet and pulling out a large wrapped parcel, which he handed to Sherlock, who looked surprised.

“Thank you John. You shouldn’t have got me anything, really, I was only your tutor for a year” he said, setting the parcel down on his desk.

“That’s okay. I’ll probably see you around, I’m coming back to the sixth form in September” John said with a shrug, and Sherlock grinned.

“Good to hear. I’ll probably see you around, then. Oh, and before you go, if something happens and I don’t see you again, well, I’m glad I met you. You’re an intelligent young man, John” Sherlock said, reaching into his jacket pocket and handing John something flat and shiny.

“Is this... is this one of your scales?” John asked incredulously. Sherlock laughed.

“Of course. I have plenty”

“Did it hurt?”

“Course not. It actually fell off when I grazed against the wall the other night. It happens occasionally, but they grow back. A bit like hair, I suppose” Sherlock said, and John smiled up at him.

“Thank you, Sir” John said, tucking the scale into his pocket and leaving quickly. Sherlock watched him go and sighed. It was rare for him to feel anything, but he was rather fond of young John Watson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an incredibly long sequel to this (the longest thing I've ever written)  
> If you're interested and would like me to post it, comment :)  
> As always, thank you for the kudos

**Author's Note:**

> I will update soon... I'm sorry this starts off quite slow  
> Please, as always, leave comments and kudos as applicable :)


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